It was 50 years ago Wednesday that then-President Lyndon B. Johnson proposed a war on poverty in his 1964 State of the Union Address. After five decades of programs like Medicare and Medicaid, while poverty hasn’t ended, the programs launched as part of the Great Society has helped hundreds of millions of people improve their lives.

Just five years ago, Florida was considered one of the worst in the nation when it came down to health outcomes and high costs, according to Florida Hospital Association (FHA). Now the state is doing what it can to improve quality for patients and save money under the Affordable Care Act.

In 1965, health care coverage for seniors in America changed dramatically with the passage of Medicare, and largely remained unchanged until 2010, when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law. […]

As President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act begins to take effect, the costs of health care are finally being revealed to customers. The numbers show wildly different charges for similar procedures across the country and no real explanation of why the prices vary so much.